Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Emerald Article: Constructing accounting in the mirror of popular music Kerry Jacobs, Steve Evans Article information: To cite this document: Kerry Jacobs, Steve Evans, (2012),"Constructing accounting in the mirror of popular music", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 25 Iss: 4 pp. 673 - 702 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513571211225097 Downloaded on: 26-06-2012 References: This document contains references to 118 other documents To copy this document: [email protected] This document has been downloaded 40 times since 2012. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Rob Gray, Richard Laughlin, (2012),"It was 20 years ago today: Sgt Pepper, <IT>Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal,</IT> green accounting and the Blue Meanies", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 25 Iss: 2 pp. 228 - 255 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513571211198755 Lu-Ming Tseng, Mei-Fang Shih, (2012),"Consumer attitudes toward false representation", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 19 Iss: 2 pp. 163 - 174 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13590791211220430 Sutharson Kanapathippillai, Ahamed Shamlee Hasheem, Steven Dellaportas, (2012),"The impact of a computerised consolidation accounting package (CCAP) on student performance", Asian Review of Accounting, Vol. 20 Iss: 1 pp. 4 - 19 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13217341211224691 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. 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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3574.htm Accounting in Constructing accounting in the popular music mirror of popular music Kerry Jacobs Research School of Business, Australian National University, 673 Canberra, Australia, and Steve Evans Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that there is a tension between the notion of the bourgeois world of “the accountant” and the world of “art for art’s sake”. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to understand how the character of the accountant is constructed and used by the artist. Particular attention is paid in this respect to the biography and lyrics of the Beatles. Findings – Accounting and accountants play both the hero and the villain. By rejecting the “accountant villain”, the artist identifies with and reinforces artistic purity and credibility. However, in order to achieve the economic benefits and maintain the balance between the “art” and the “money”, the economic prudence of the bourgeois accountant is required (although it might be resented). Research limitations/implications – The analysis focuses on a relatively small range of musicians and is dominated by the biography of the Beatles. A further range of musicians and artists would extend this work. Further research could also be constructed to more fully consider the consumption, rather than just the production, of art and cultural products and performances. Originality/value – This paper is a novel consideration of how accounting stereotypes are constructed and used in the field of artistic creation Keywords Accounting, Music, Beatles, Bourdieu, Culture Paper type Research paper The world of the bourgeois man, with his double-entry accounting, cannot be invented without producing the pure, perfect universe of the artist and the intellectual and the gratuitous activities of art-for-art’s sake and pure theory (Pierre Bourdieu (1986)). Research into accounting in popular culture emerged from a virtual standing-start following Hopwood (1994) and his call to study accounting as it permeates and functions in wider social and cultural practices. Since that time a body of work has emerged. One major focus of this work has been how accounting is represented in literature, although researchers have also considered accountants in film, music and even poetry. On the whole, the stereotype of the accountant in popular culture is negative. However, our engagement with and theorisation of popular culture has been Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 25 No. 4, 2012 The authors would like to acknowledge the helpful comments of Jen Webb, Christine Jubb, the pp. 673-702 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited two reviewers, and participants at the 2010 Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in 0951-3574 Accounting Conference held in Sydney. DOI 10.1108/09513571211225097 AAAJ limited and there is a need to adopt a broader understanding of its nature and role to 25,4 inform our understanding of how accounting is constructed and presented. In this paper we adopt an approach informed by the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu. It has been recognised that social and cultural institutions such as literature and movies have a power to influence the public perceptions of accounting. Beard (1994) and Dimnik and Felton (2006) explored depictions of accounts in films, Bougen (1994) 674 in humour, Maltby (1997), Czarniawska (2008) and Evans (2009) in literature, Evans and Jacobs (2010) in poetry and Smith and Jacobs (2011) in popular music. These papers illustrate how certain stereotypes of accounting are reflected and sustained by cultural institutions and practices. Dimnik and Felton (2006) focus on “accounting stereotypes”. They conducted a factor analysis of accounting characters in 121 movies distributed in the USA between 1932 and 2000. In general, they argued that the accounting character represented the “ordinary man” with “common ordinary mainstream emotions” with “no friends and limited personality” (Dimnik and Felton, 2006, p. 136). The most positive interpretation was presented by one 82 year old accountant (retired presumably) that accountants were depicted as “nice solid citizens who do not get the girl” (Dimnik and Felton, 2006, p. 136). Dimnik and Felton’s (2006) analysis was more sophisticated; based on viewing 121 movies and coding certain personal characteristics they argued that there were five general stereotypes of accountants in the movies they viewed. First, accountants could be naı¨ve optimists, out of touch with reality who are often timid and weak but have a positive outlook on life. It is not unusual for them to dream of being something else. The second was the plodder who, while being hardworking and dedicated, is stuck in dead-end and boring jobs with little status, power or recognition. They are rarely shown with friends or with a life beyond their work. The eccentric is geeky and gauche, unaware of or indifferent to social norms and expectations. This dysfunction can range from quirky to psychotically unbalanced. The accounting hero is the common-man, the normal person who rises to abnormal challenges to become something (or someone) exceptional. In contrast, the villain is a powerful, hardnosed and assertive individual who is insensitive to the needs of others. In general these characters were calculating, greedy, dishonest and in half of the cases murderous. Dimnik and Felton (2006, p. 152) suggest that when the accounting profession looks into “the mirror of cinematic stereotypes what it sees it not all bad” because, while some of the characters (most particularly the villain and the eccentric) were negative, most of the others were generally positive and there was an increasing presence of woman and ethnic minorities. Smith and Jacobs (2011) explore many similar themes to Dimnik and Felton (2006) although they explore the representation of accountants in popular music and adopt a more explicit social theory approach informed by the work of Bourdieu. Smith and Jacobs (2011) argue that popular music plays a critical role in socialising core social values and attitudes and, therefore, these is an important link between how accounting is presented in these cultural practices and social institutions. In contrast to Dimnik and Felton (2006), Smith and Jacobs (2011) found few “positive” depictions of accountants and accounting in popular music but categorise the lyrical depictions around: . accountants as a stereotype/object of satire; . accounting as servant of capitalism; . accounting as an instrument of oppression; Accounting in . accountants as “cultural intermediaries”; popular music . accountants as status symbols; and . accountants as